Bike Monkey Cyclocross

This cyclocross season is going to be so great because of the local series put on by Bike Monkey and City of Santa Rosa. Thank you to them and also to Dan Harting for heading up the CX clinics the past few weeks. Gives us a chance to work on skills and preride some of the courses.

I just bought Sarah P's old CX bike, so I have a bike with lots of good juju. This was my first  race on it and I loved every minute of it. There was a big lineup of women with NorCal Velo really well represented - 6 of us.I decided to race in the B's and I couldn't believe how fast the 45 minutes flew by. The course was nice and tacky  from the rain last night and one of the hills changed from a run-up to rideable. The hardest part for me was slogging through the sand and I need to work on my running to get past that. But it was so fun. I am definitely hooked and can't wait for the next one.

-Penny

Wow!!! that was so much fun!! For years Claire and Cathy said come do a cross race with us. I was afraid I'd lose my teeth and I weaseled out every time. Now, I understand!!!!  As Kevin and I drove to the race he said "Hey, I got something for you" and he turned on the radio ... MC Hammer was pumping "stop hammer time" and I had to laugh thinking of a certain incident with Claire. That moment pretty much set the spirit of the race for me, songs twenty years past and the hilarity of it all.

I had a blast! Alexis and I had gone out the day before and she showed me some of the skills that she had learned in the XC clinics last month and rode me through the course. Inspired by her enthusiasm and eager to enjoy the simplicity, elated joy and attentional focus of racing my bike with friends I lined up on the start line of my first ever cyclocross race with Marmalade; my not so light mtb.

We had a solid Nor Cal turn out. I raced with Alexis and Penny in the B's, Sarah P and Allison in the A's and Mariko in the C's. Cathy handed us bottles and gave us encouragement and expert advice. As we got out on the course the groups broke up pretty quickly and I found myself racing back and forth with a girl named Rita from Santa Cruz. She even shared a food bar with me when she heard me mumbling about how hungry I was! As we'd come around different corners in the course I could see and hear my teammates as we yelled encouragements to one another. It felt like a big skills clinic and there's nothing like throwing yourself in it and mimicking the others in front of you and thats just what I did. I felt good, especially on the back side of the course. I had a great time and I didn't knock my teeth out!

Its been quite the month dealing with an ailing family member and God did I need this! The simple act of racing with others and cheering each other to do our best. Its a precious and simple pleasure. Sometimes bike racing becomes too serious and we forget how really simple it is and what a gift it is to be able to push ourselves in this way with our young and able bodies. Our time here is brief, we might as well spend it pursuing the things that bring us joy.

 I loved watching the kids race and I could easily identify with their maneuvering of each individual wheel over the barriers. If you're over five foot five these barriers seem like little hops as you carry your bike over them but I'm closer to those tykes in height and in those last laps I felt like I might have been faster if I had tried their technique. :) See you at the next one!

Jen :)

Today was my first real race on my new Specialized Tri-Cross which I am in love with. I had a decent race, not great, but not bad either. We had a really competitive field on a super fun course that was made more interesting after an overnight rainfall. 

Mary Anne Hunter went out hard and after the first lap we were all a few tire lengths apart. Mary Anne, Barb Howe, Allison Baumhefner, myself, and Sarah Bamberger.  Teammate Allison with all her cross experience was fun to follow as her technique clearly showed her experience. She soon took second behind Barb Howe. There was a flat road section which is not my expertise and this was the best place to pass as all the other sections were narrow and windy. We started lapping girls and came to the run-up which we had all been clearing and we had 2 laps to go. Barb and Allison had now gapped us a bit. Sarah an amazing cat 1 roadie and Mary Anne got up the run up behind the lapped girls hiking it and I did not make it around them, having to put a food down and losing my group in the process. After frantically catching up with 1 lap to go we turned a sharp right off the pavement on to soft muddy terrain where I completely wiped out, losing my group.

So I finished 5th but less than a minute separated our group. For being a bit stale as it was my first race of the year and my first A race, I was actually happy and had a great time. Carlos and the rest of the Bike Monkey crew did such a great job and the turnout was really cool to see.

-Sarah P.

NorCal Velo was in full effect! A's: Sarah Piccolo, B's: Alexis M., Penny E., Jen Scott, C's: Me! Working support was our very favorite: Cathy Crawford

Well Carlos did it again!  Another fantastic Bike Monkey event right in our back-yard.  Quite literally for some of Santa Rosa's citizens, since the race was held in Doyle park.  The course was AWESOME, sand pit, two sets of barriers, and a thrid single barrier, a couple run-ups, well only one really for most folks, but there was this short steep part that I was too scared to ride.  The loop was a little over a mile, and we did 5 laps in our race, I think the A's women did 6 since I got lapped (by our very own Sarah P., that fast little lady)!! 

I had done a few of Dan Harding's 'cross clinics during the month prior to this race, and I felt pretty prepared being that it was my very first cyclocross race ever!  I knew how I was supposed to dismount, and remount, now whether or not I did it is a whole other story, but the lessons were in my head, I just had to apply them.  I decided to race the C's even though the rest of the girls were riding the B's, I was feeling a little shy.  We ultimately all ended up starting pretty close together anyway so it didn't really make much of a difference.  Off we went, and on the first lap I hopped into the front, made it smoothly over all the barriers and through the first run-up, but on the second one, when I dropped my bike down off my shoulder my chain jumped off, and I had to dismount again and put it back on, at this point the girl that was behind me caught up, passed, and that was pretty much the story the rest of the race, I just couldn't get back up to her!  On what I thought was the second to last lap, but really the last lap, I learned that when you get lapped in 'cross your race is done as well (I could argue here that I was saving it for the last lap, but let's get real, I was quite okay with being done at that moment).  I held on to third place in the C's, and got my very first podium finish ever in my history of cycling!!!  Unfortunately I missed the awards ceremony because I was off chatting it up with someone *drat* Carlos can I still get my super cool doggie tag?

This was ultimately the most fun I've ever had racing.  Cyclocross is not as much about keeping up with the pack, there's not real advantage actually, you want to either be off the front, or in no-man's land because then it's a hell of a lot easier to go around hairpin turns and over barriers.  It's a lot more about doing the best you can, drinking beer if you're off the back, and trying to look cool while doing it (let's be honest).  I was never scared that I was going to get crashed out, or that there was going to be some crazy mountain that I had to climb and get dropped on, the stress level was very low.  

I CAN'T WAIT for the next one!

-Mariko
 

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